Chapter Fairy Sparks to False of F by Brewer's Phrase & Fable

Fal-lals Nick-nacks; ornaments of small value. (Greek, phalara, metal ornaments for horses, etc.)

"Our god-child passed in review all her gowns, fichus, tags, bobbins, laces, silk stockings, and fallals." - Thackeray: Vanity Fair, chap. vi. p. 38.

Fall In the fall. In the autumn, at the fall of the leaf. (An American revival.)

"What crowds of patients the town doctor kills,
Or how, last fall, he raised the weekly bills."
Dryden: Juvenal.

   To try a fall. To wrestle, when each tries to "fall" or throw the other.

"I am given, sir, ... to understand that your younger brother, Orlando, hath a disposition to come in disguised against me to try a fall." - As You Like It, i. 1.

Fall Away (To). To lose flesh; to degenerate; to quit a party, as "his adherents fell away gradually [one by one], or rapidly."

Fall Flat (To). To lie prostrate or procumbent; to fail to interest, as "the last act fell flat."

Fall Foul To fall foul of one is to make an assault on someone. A sea term. A rope is said to be foul when it is entangled; and one ship falls foul of another when it runs against her and prevents her free progress. Hence to run up against, to assault.

Fall From (To). To violate, as "to fall from his word;" to tumble or slip off, as "to fall from a horse;" to abandon or go away from, as "to fall from grace."

Fall In (To). To take one's place with others; to concur with, as "he fell in with my views" - that is, his views or ideas fell into the lot of my views or ideas. (See Fall Out.)

Fall Off (To). To detach themselves; to be thrown off [a horse]; to leave. The Latin decido.

Fall Out (To). To quarrel; to happen. (Latin, accido.) (See Fall In.)

"Three children sliding on the ice
Upon a summer's day;
As it fell out they all fell in,
The rest they ran away."
Porson: Mother Goose.

"See ye fall not out by the way." - Genesis xlv. 24.

Fall Sick (To). To be unwell. A Latin phrase, "In morbum incidere. "

Fall Through (To). To tumble through [an insecure place]; to fail of being carried out or accomplished.

Fall to (To). To begin [eating, fighting, etc.].

"They sat down ... and without waiting ... fell to like commoners after grace." - Kane: Arctic Explorations, vol. i. chap. xxx. p. 419.

Fall Under (To). To incur, as, "to be under the reproach of carelessness;" to be submitted to, as, "to fall under consideration," a Latinism, "In deliberationem cadere. "

Fall Upon (To). To attack, as "to fall upon the rear," a Latin phrase, "ultimis incidere; " to throw oneself on, as, "he fell on his sword," "manu sua cadere; " to happen on, as, "On what day will the games fall?"

Fall in With (To). To meet accidentally; to come across. This is a Latin phrase, in aliquam casu incidere. "

Fall into a Snare (To), or "To fall into an ambuscade." To stumble accidentally into a snare. This is a Latin phrase, "insidias incidere. " Similarly, to fall into disgrace is the Latin "ni offensionem cadere. "

Fall of Man (The). The degeneracy of the human race in consequence of the "fall" [or disobedience] of Adam, man's federal head. Adam fell, or ceased to stand his ground, under temptation.